A Very Farron Christmas
by Raziel12
Summary: Christmas is always interesting at the Farron's.
1. Chapter 1

**A Very Farron Christmas**

Fang's eye twitched. "What is all this?"

In front of her the normally orderly front lawn of the Farron household had become like something out a nightmare. There were enough red, white, and green lights festooned over the fence, the trees, and even the flowers to almost blind her. Stranger still was the small herd of plastic reindeer in the middle of the lawn pulling a sled with a mannequin of a scarily jolly fat man dressed in white and red at the reins.

"Fang, you're back!"

Fang blinked as Serah came out of the house. Rather than her usual clothing, the younger Farron was dressed in a short red dress with stockings, funny boots and a strange, droopy sort of hat on. "Serah… what… is all this?" Gripping her spear a little tighter, Fang was struck by the sudden urge to throw it at the mannequin in the sled.

"Come inside first, Fang, and put that spear away!" Serah said as she tugged Fang into the house past a group of revellers.

Inside, Fang found herself confronted by even more red, white, and green. There were ribbons of the stuff everywhere, along with more lights and what looked very much like the top of a pine tree in the middle of the room. She'd expected a number of things after spending a fortnight in the wilds trying to cool off after her last fight with Lightning, but this certainly wasn't one of them. Maybe she'd actually been bitten by something poisonous and was hallucinating, it would certainly make more sense.

Looking for a place to put her spear, she caught sight of Sazh and Dajh over by the tree. Sazh was hanging a few more lights on the tree while Dajh looked to be doing his best to convince his chocobo that it belonged at the very top, something the bird did not seem to appreciate if its angry squawking was any guide. In the corner of the room, Lebreau had a table set up with drinks and food, and Snow and the rest of NORA were there, talking.

A boisterous laugh caught Fang's attention and she turned to find Hope and his father trying to fend off Vanille who looked to be more than a little bit inebriated. Unbidden a grimace came to her lips. Honestly, she loved Vanille, but the younger woman could be absolutely terrible when she was drunk. Not violent, but flirty, especially with Serah, something that Fang found both unbelievably hilarious and utterly disturbing.

Still that left one member of their little group unaccounted for and Fang's brow furrowed as she looked around the room for Lightning. She and the older Farron hadn't exactly parted the best of terms. In fact, the bruise on Fang's jaw had only just faded. She supposed it was only fair. She'd promise Lightning, sworn actually, that she wouldn't push for more than friendship until the pink haired woman was ready, but she'd just gotten so tired of waiting.

Lightning was all sorts of brave when it came to fighting, but when it came to relationships she was the complete opposite. One day she might be all warm and cuddly – well as warm and cuddly as Lightning could get – and the next she might be trying to cut Fang's head off and frankly Fang was sick of it. So two weeks ago she'd done exactly what she'd promised she'd never do and kissed Lightning silly. Oh it had gone well – for all of thirty seconds. After that, Lightning had gotten her wits back and done a pretty good job of punching Fang silly. Needless to say, Fang thought some time apart would be good for them, and coincidentally, for her own health, as well.

"Fang… hey, Fang, are you there?"

Fang jerked back as Serah waved a hand in front of her. "Stop doing that." She scowled. "So come on, tell me. What is all of this?"

"It's a Cocoon tradition," Serah began before Vanille stumbled over to them.

"You're pretty," Vanille cooed, throwing one arm around Serah and leaning in close. "Really pretty…"

Fang grimaced and pried Vanille off Serah. "What have you been giving her?" she asked the younger Farron.

Serah winced. "All we've really got is eggnog. I've never seen anyone get drunk that quickly on eggnog, although she did drink a lot of it…"

"Great…" Fang held Vanille back as the red haired girl tried to grope Serah. "So you were saying something about a Cocoon tradition…"

Serah nodded. "Yeah… it's called Christmas." And with that she began to explain what Christmas was. It was no easy task either, what with Vanille doing her best to break free of Fang and making no small number of somewhat interesting propositions in a voice that was a tad too loud for Serah's liking.

At the end of Serah's explanation, Fang's eye was twitching again. "So let me get this straight. There's some jolly fat guy called Santa Clause and he kind of stalks everyone throughout the year to see if they've been good or not and if they've been good then he breaks into their house through the chimney and slips a present under their tree and nobody thinks that's creepy?"

Serah winced. "Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it is a little creepy. But really, Christmas is all about getting together with family and spending time together."

"Speaking of family," Fang said, "Where is that sister of yours? She and I have some talking to do."

Serah grinned widely. "Don't worry you'll be seeing her in a second."

Suddenly an excited hush fell over the room as the large clock on the wall began to strike midnight. Snow moved over from where he was talking with the rest of NORA and grabbed a microphone.

"Did you hear that guys?" Snow asked. "That's midnight and that means it's time for Santa to arrive. I hope you've all been good boys and girls." A mix of cheers and boos filled the air.

Vanille giggled. "I can't wait for Santa to get here."

"So let me get this straight, you're going to have someone dress up as Santa, and from the looks of it isn't Snow." Fang shot Serah a curious look. "Just who are you getting to dress up as Santa?"

Serah's grin became positively evil. "Just watch."

"Wait, what's that I hear from the chimney," Snow said theatrically as he cupped one hand over his ear and looked at the fireplace. "Is that Santa?"

And right on cue there was a whoosh from the chimney and Fang had to slap her hand over her mouth to hold back a wave of laughter as Santa appeared. According to Serah, Santa was supposed to be a jolly, fat, and male. This Santa had a glare fit to freeze water, was anything but fat, and was distinctly female.

"Serah," Fang asked as she tried with increasing difficulty to hold back her laughter. "Is Santa supposed to have a gun blade?"

Serah, eyes alight with mirth, replied, "Well, not really, but she absolutely refused to leave it off."

"I see." Fang dissolved into laughter as she watched several of the children at the party approach Lightning cautiously, their love of Santa and presents warring with their almost instinctive fear of the obviously less than ecstatic soldier. To her credit, Lightning did try to smile, but the sheer awkwardness of the expression combined with the impressively sharp gun blade she held in the same hand as her sack full of presents made for a somewhat scary situation.

Still, by the time she started handing out presents to the former l'Cie, Lightning's smile, though small, was genuine. She even managed a hug when she was giving Serah her present, although Snow's attempt to garner a hug of his own was met with a stiff glare and the promise of an even stiffer left hook if he persisted.

Finally, it was Fang's turn.

The two of them just looked at each other as the others back away. They'd learned that distance was an important thing to have after the second fight the two had had. That fight had involved a couch, a ladder, and several other pieces of furniture, all used as makeshifts clubs or projectiles.

"You're looking good there, Sunshine." Fang had to fight to keep the grin off her face. Lightning was dressed in a white and red suit with a funny hat on her head along with too big boots and gloves. In short, she looked ridiculous.

"I saw you laughing at me earlier," Lightning replied.

"What can I say, I like watching Santa Clause in action." Fang smirked and looked over at Snow. "Mind telling me why you're Santa and not that big lug over there?"

Lightning made a disgusted sound. "While you were gone we tried to get him down the chimney. The fool got stuck." She growled. "It took us four hours to get him out and after that they decided that I should be Santa. Apparently, I'm just perfect for the role. More likely, I was the only one who could fit and make the jump down the chimney in one piece."

Fang chuckled. "Seems about right."

Lightning nodded and then Fang felt her insides clench as the older Farron's expression turned serious. "About what happened before…."

Fang sighed. "I know I promised I wouldn't push you but… damn it, Lightning… you know…" Fang ran one hand through her hair in frustration. "Look I –"

Lightning cut her off. "Before you say anything else, have this." She handed Fang a present.

"Thanks for the present, Lightning, but –"

Lightning stopped her again. "Just open it."

Feeling more than a little frustrated, Fang practically tore the present apart. Inside the box there was nothing but a small wreathe of some kind of plant. Behind her, the others gasped, but she ignored them, choosing instead to glare at Lightning. "What the hell is this, Sunshine?"

Lightning smiled. It was a real smile, soft and warm, and gentle. It was a smile that made Fang wonder about the kind of person Lightning could've been if she'd been allowed to stay Claire, and it was the kind of smile that made Fang want to grab hold of Lightning and absolutely refuse to let her go. "It's mistletoe, Fang."

"And?"

Lightning leaned up close, so close in fact that Fang could feel Lighting's breath along her cheek as the pink haired woman whispered into her ear. "There's a tradition in Cocoon about mistletoe."

Suddenly, inexplicably nervous, Fang could barely get the words out. "What sort of tradition?"

Lightning pulled back and the grin she wore on her face as she looked into Fang's eyes sent the huntress' pulse racing. "Hold it up over the two of us and I'll show you."

Fang nodded dumbly. "Like th –"

And then couldn't say anything else because Lightning's lips were on hers.

When they finally parted, Lightning's eyes were softer than Fang could ever remember seeing them.

"Merry Christmas, Fang."

X X X

**Author's Notes**

First of all, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off this.

Heh. I came up with the idea for this story after spending most of today cooped up in shopping malls listening to endless reruns of Christmas carols. I'm not sure about what that has to say about my state of mind. In any case, I think Lightning would be an awesome Santa. Not only would she bring presents for the good kids, she could definitely punish the bad ones. I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

As always, I welcome your feedback. Reviews and comments are appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Who Is Santa?**

Fang stared at the door of the en suite bathroom. What on earth was Lightning doing in there? "The Christmas party was fun this year, don't you think?" In fact it was so fun that the other former l'Cie had chosen to crash at their house for the night.

"It was." Lightning's voice came clearly through the bathroom door along with the crinkling of a paper bag of some kind. "And thank you for not trying to kill Hope."

"Yeah, well, it's Christmas." Normally, Fang wasn't the sort of person to get too enthusiastic over a holiday, especially one from Cocoon, but Christmas was different. Sure, it was a little creepy. After all, who wanted a jolly, fat man with magical, flying reindeer stalking them all year round? But Christmas had also been the day when Lightning had finally, finally agreed to make their relationship a romantic one. "I can always get him at New Year."

Lightning chuckled. "Fang… I can understand that you're upset about finding Hope in bed with Vanille, but it's not like the two of us waited until we were married."

Fang's lips curled. They certainly hadn't. "I guess." She shook herself and looked for something else to think about. "I was listening to the girls, they really do think they've got it all figured out."

"You mean about Santa?"

Fang nodded, even though there was no way that Lightning could see the gesture. "Yeah. To be honest, I'm surprised they didn't work it out a little sooner. I mean they are pretty sharp, so they were bound to notice that every time Santa comes down the chimney you're nowhere to be found. Even Diana is convinced that you're just dressing up as Santa."

"Well, I sort of am," Lightning said. There was the sound of a paper package being ripped open. "Although that's only because certain somebodies keep voting for me to dress up as Santa when there is another certain somebody who could do it too." Somehow, Fang could actually feel Lightning's glare through the door. "Isn't that right, Fang?"

"I guess." Really, what was taking Lightning so long in there? "But that's only because you do such a good job of it. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing you in that outfit Serah always wears." Fang grinned, picturing Lightning in a short, red dress, black boots, and white gloves. Oh, and of course, the Santa hat, she couldn't forget that.

"Fang, stop ogling my sister." Lightning's voice was firm, but Fang could hear the smile behind it. Both of them knew that only person Fang would ever ogle was Lightning. "And don't forget, this year, you're the one dressing up as Santa."

"I know, I know." Fang rolled her eyes. After overhearing the girls talking, Lightning had quickly devised a plan to have Fang replace her as Santa for a year. "Now, what's taking you so long in there? It's only a few hours till I have to clamber down the chimney, so I'd like to get some sleep."

"Sleep?" Lightning stepped out of the bathroom and Fang forgot all about sleeping. "Is that what you want to do?"

Fang swallowed thickly and shook her head. Lightning had just come out of bathroom dressed as the sexiest Santa in the whole damn universe. Mental note: never, ever make fun of Christmas-themed lingerie again. "Not anymore."

Lightning grinned and pulled off one long, white glove, tossing it at Fang. "Good, because you've been a very, very good girl this year."

"I have?" Fang couldn't remember being especially good. Then again, her brain wasn't exactly working very well right now.

"Yes." Lightning sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to guide one of Fang's hands to the clasp of her bra. "In fact, you even get to open your present a few hours early."

Fang watched the bra fall away. Christmas. Best holiday ever.

X X X

Diana looked up and nearly head butted Averia in the chin. "Do you think we're right, Claire? Is my mom really just dressing up as Santa?"

"Watch what you're doing," Averia growled. Not only did she have to share a bed with Diana because Claire was sleeping over, but Claire had gotten her bed. At least, Diana hadn't poked her in the eye with her hair again.

"I guess." Claire looked over at Averia before continuing. "I mean your mom is never around when Santa comes, and no one else thinks Santa has a gun blade."

"But then how would he keep the bad kids from stealing the presents?" Diana replied. "But you're right about our mom. She's never around when Santa comes."

Averia heard the disappointment in Diana's voice and shared another look with Claire. The two of them had been talking about it earlier in the day, but they hadn't meant for Diana to overhear them. It was one thing for a nine year old to not believe in Santa, but it would have been nice if her sister could have believed in him for a bit longer. "Maybe it isn't mom. You know, she is always busy doing things, like cleaning up after the party and stuff."

"I don't know." Diana sighed and snuggled up to Averia. Her sister was actually quite cuddly, even though she'd never admit it. "But who else could it be?" She made a face. "And how would Santa even deliver all the presents? Not even Mr Snaggles could fly fast enough to go everywhere, and he's way faster than reindeer, even if they are magical."

"I suppose." Claire nodded. "Well, we should get to sleep. We've still got a few more hours until it's tomorrow."

Diana closed her eyes. "At least we'll find out if Santa is real."

Holding her sister close, Averia hoped very much that her parents would come up with something. Someone like Diana shouldn't sound so disappointed about Christmas.

X X X

The alarm went off and Diana sprang out of bed. There was a muffled cry behind her as Averia tumbled to the ground, but she paid not attention to it. It was finally tomorrow, and it was time to see if they were right, to see if her mom really was just dressing up as Santa. As she threw the door open and ran down the stairs, she heard Claire and Averia stumble after her. She grinned. Slow pokes!

When she reached the living room, she flicked on the lights and leapt over her Grandpa Sazh as he blearily sat up and looked around, his clothes still a little crumpled from sleeping on the couch.

"Huh, what's going on?"

"Santa is coming!" Diana shouted, dodging her Uncle Hope and her Uncle Dajh as they shook themselves awake from where they'd fallen asleep on one of the other couches. "Or maybe it's just my mom dressing up."

As her Aunt Serah and Uncle Snow came down the stairs with her Aunt Vanille, she took a few moments to admire the Christmas tree that she, Averia, and Claire had decorated. They'd managed to fit heaps of ornaments on it along with lots of Christmas lights. It looked almost like a robot, and right at the top of it was Mr Snaggles, holding a shining metal star.

"You're up quickly."

Diana blinked and turned around. It was her mom, and she was standing right there next to her. "Mom? But… don't you have to be somewhere?" This couldn't be right, she'd heard Averia and Claire talking and they'd said that her mom was the one dressing up as Santa, and they'd even talked about it earlier before going to sleep and…

"Not really." Lightning smiled. "I thought it might be nice to meet Santa with you."

"Oh." Diana looked back at Claire and Averia, but both of them had weird looks on their faces. She was just about to ask them what was going on when there was a whoosh from the chimney and a familiar figure appeared.

"Santa!"

X X X

Fang coughed. Stupid chimney. She really needed to clean it more often, although she was just glad that she hadn't gotten stuck. They should have gotten Serah to do this. Not only was the younger woman agile enough to pull it off, she was small enough that the trip down the chimney wouldn't be too bad. But no, Lightning couldn't subject her delicate younger sister to the horrors of chimney travel, though she had no problems subjecting Fang to it. Still, if jumping down a chimney was what it took to into Lightning's good books, and if getting into Lightning's good books meant more surprises like the one she'd gotten earlier, well, Fang was prepared to jump down a few thousand more chimneys.

"Santa!"

Fang felt a broad smile slip across her face as Diana stepped forward. The little girl was looking at her in absolute awe, like she couldn't even believe that Santa was right there. So far, so good.

"Merry Christmas!" Fang shouted, deepening her voice as best she could. "Has everybody been a good this year?"

"Yes!" Diana shouted. "I've been really, really good!"

Fang nodded. "Well, in that case, I have a few presents for all of you."

And with that, Fang went around the room handing presents to all of the others. The former l'Cie accepted their gifts with good cheer, while Averia and Claire both gave her puzzled looks. Finally, she got to Diana.

"Are you real?" Diana asked softly. "My sister and my cousin were talking and they said that it was just my mom dressing up as you, but my mom is right there." Diana pointed at Lightning. "So it can't be her…"

"Of course, I'm real." Fang laughed merrily and lifted Diana up into her arms. "See? You even got a hug from Santa." She put Diana down and walked over to Lightning. "I'll even give your mom a hug too." She grinned. "Now, do you think I'm real?"

"I do, Santa, I do!" Diana laughed happily. "I just wish my mommy was here because she's from Gran Pulse and they didn't believe in Santa and now I can show you to her!" She frowned. "But I can't see her…"

Fang's eyes widened. Crap.

"Mommy went into the kitchen to get some cookies and milk for Santa," Averia said, her eyes never leaving Fang's. "She should be back in a minute."

"Oh." Diana looked at Fang. "Can you stay a little longer, Santa? I really want you to meet my mommy too."

Fang shook her head and did her best to sound sad. "I'm sorry, Diana, but I have to get going since I have so many presents to give." She handed Diana her present. "Here, and I hope that you're a good girl next year too so I can give you another present." Waving one last time at Diana, she went back up the chimney.

Roughly two minutes and twenty-three seconds later, Fang walked into the living room with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. "Damn, did Santa leave already?"

Fang winced as Diana hurtled through the air at her. Somehow, she managed to keep the milk from spilling as Diana clambered up into her arms.

"Mommy! Mommy! You just missed him. He was here and he was so cool. He gave me a hug, and he even gave mom a hug, and mom didn't punch him or anything the way she punches Uncle Snow!" Diana grinned. "Averia and Claire said it was just mom dressing up as Santa but I knew he was real, I knew it!"

"I know. Maybe I can catch him next year."

Diana gave Fang a serious look. "You're not going to spear Santa for hugging mom, are you, mommy? Because that would make lots of kids really sad."

"No, I am not going to spear Santa." Fang smirked. "In fact, you could say that Santa and I are on very good terms."

Later, when Diana was busy showing her newest set of plastic blocks to Vanille and Lightning, Fang went over to Averia and Claire. Her lips twitched up into a smile. "You knew it was me, didn't you?"

"Maybe we did," Claire said. "But that didn't mean Diana had to."

Averia nodded. "After all, it is Christmas, isn't it?"

Fang looked around the room and smiled. Her whole family was there, and all of them were happy. "Yes, yes, it is."

X X X

**Author's Notes**

As always, I neither own Final Fantasy, nor am I making any money off of this.

I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for some time now. The original _A Very Farron Christmas_ (i.e., Chapter 1 of this story) is a sort of prelude to both _Ordinary Heroes_ and _Tell Me A Story_, so it's only natural that this chapter include Diana, Averia, and Claire.

With regards to the actual content of this chapter, I wanted to try and get across a lit bit of the Christmas spirit. I think there is something really magical about the belief that children have in Santa. Sure, it doesn't make any sense, and the idea that some guy is going to watch all of us all year around before flying across the world using magic reindeer to deliver presents is utterly ridiculous. But that doesn't matter to kids, and I think that's a good thing. Personally, I can't remember a time when I believed in Santa (I was a little too smart for my own good and so was my sister), but I do remember my father taking the time and effort to dress up as him, and that's something I'm grateful for even today.

Now, the first half of this chapter is definitely the Fang/Lightning part. In my defence, it is vaguely necessary plot-wise in that they do mention their plan. However, it's the part about the girls that I think drives this chapter. Averia and Claire are old enough to realise that Santa isn't real, whereas Diana is still young enough that she wants him to be real. When Fang appears as Santa, Diana falls for it – she wants to fall for it – but if they wanted to, Averia and Claire could easily have told her what was going on. But they didn't. Why? Simple. They love Diana, and they understand that maybe it's better if she goes one more year believing Santa is real. That's why Lightning came up with the plan to switch, and it's why the others went along with it too (Serah, of course, has the added motivation of not wanting to be the one going down the chimney).

Finally, there are two more things I'd like to do. First, I'd like to mention a blog I've got that I will be dedicating to writing related things and to keeping you posted on updates and the like. It's at razieltwelve(put a dot here)wordpress(put a dot here)com. I'll do my best to keep it updated weekly, and you can look forward to not only progress updates on my stories, but also posts related to writing (e.g., some tips on writing fight scenes) and my thoughts on various issues (e.g., I'm thinking of talking about why digital publishing is a good thing for readers and writers).

And lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favourited, followed, or in any way, shape, or form had something to do with the stories I've written. Writing isn't always easy, in fact, it can often be quite tortuous, but you, the readers, make it worthwhile.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.


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